The complete idiot’s guide to MidEast peace (part71)

National security adviser Rice says new agreement on Iron Dome system signed, bringing total investment to $900 million

Every $1 spent on Israel’s security is an investment | The Times of Israel

That is a pretty penny to be spending on what are essentially defensive measures only. Is there any offensive capacity in such technology or must we look towards other and, no doubt, equally costly equipment to provide for this kind of capability?

The conclusion drawn from so inordinate a sum of money suggests that a staggering and continual outlay in financial support is required for Israel’s overall defence and the maintenance of its military posture.

This seems to have been the trend for so long now that not so much as an eyelid is batted at the mention of such prodigious expenditure.

But, should the Israeli administration and that of the Palestinians be in the market for an extremely cheap alternative to such expensive and sophisticated weaponry, might I then suggest one that would be far more effective than anything else on offer. Indeed, its potential after only its first outing might readily be deemed so successful that all other forms of competition could easily become redundant, relegated to the copious dustbin of military and militant history.

1. Costs are negligible and may even be discounted altogether under favourable conditions.

2. No loss of life or limb is expected; no graveside vigils, no images of bloodied corpses strewn across national and international media reports.

3. The deployment of such a weapon would present no danger whatever to those outside the combat area; all fallout would be strictly confined to very specific locations on the ‘battlefield’ and nowhere else.

4. The most feared features of this type of armament would reside in its autonomous nature and access to it being made available to all sides on a free-to-air basis.

5. It would begin ending the entire matter in no time at all with none of that interminable waiting for the next peace initiative to arrive on site.

6. The more than 25,000 lives lost to date would then have something positive to commemorate their numbers and in a way far better than that of the most magnificent memorial or tomb imaginable.

7. It represents the ultimate refinement in warfare and thus, with luck, the very last one any of us will ever need for a very long, long time.

8. The only minor drawback that might become evident would be an insufferable air of smugness on everyone’s part at having finally cut the Gordian Knot around what otherwise must remain an insoluble situation.

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